1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cellular terminal, method and a system for accessing different servers from a cellular terminal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a result of continuous work to define an industry wide standard for developing applications over cellular communication networks. This makes it possible to access for example the Internet or other kind of information networks provided with hypermedia servers, from an ordinary cellular phone supporting WAP. These types of cellular phones which support WAP, have only a small fraction of the resources of a typical desktop or portable computer. This means that the features in the phone are very limited compared to a computer. The reason for this limitation is the size of the phones, i.e., the phone has a severe limitation in processing power, memory space, display size and buttons or keys by which a user can request, view and manipulate information obtained from a hypermedia server. Therefore, it is very important that the features in the phone are made as efficient as possible. Also, the relatively high cost for a call from a cellular phone makes it also very important to provide the client with a fast response from the server.
The WAP Architecture is very similar to the Internet Architecture. FIG. 1 shows a comparison between the Internet Architecture 10 and the WAP Architecture 20. The Internet Architecture 10 comprises a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) 12, e.g., Java Script, a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 14, Transport Layered Security (TLS)/Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) 16, and a Transport Configuration Protocol (TCP)/User Datagram Protocol (UDP) 18. The Internet Architecture 10 is well known prior art, and is disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,390. The WAP Architecture 20 comprises a Wireless Application Protocol (WAE) 22 corresponding to HTML 12, a Wireless Session Layer (WSP) 24 corresponding to HTTP 14, a Wireless Transport Layered Security (WTLS) 26 corresponding to TLS/SSL 16, and a Wireless Transport Layer (WTP) 28 corresponding to TCP/UDP 18. Furthermore, the WAP Architecture comprises different bearers 29 like, e.g., SMS, USSD and CDMA 30. Other devices and applications are indicated as reference number 21. There is also a possibility to implement different kinds of services and applications in the WAP Architecture, e.g., Value Added Services (VAS). The WAP Architecture 20 is well known prior art and is therefore not being disclosed any further. More detailed information about WAP can at present be found at the following Internet address: http://www.wapforum.org/.
When using a WAP browser today, the session is normally between a dedicated gateway, connected to a server, and a client like a cellular phone. A gateway can be a computer that lies at the intersection of a server to be accessed and a client, and routes traffic from one or several servers to the client. Thus, the gateway provides a link between two disparate types of electronic communications such as the WAP architecture and the Internet architecture. If the user would like to access a remote server, i.e., a server which is located elsewhere than the server connected to the dedicated gateway, the access can in some way be restricted, or in some cases not allowed. For example, a user would like to receive information about his/her flight points from an airline company, which can be accessed through another gateway than the dedicated gateway. In this case, the browser in the phone will normally first establish a connection to the dedicated gateway. Then, the dedicated gateway will detect that the request is to another gateway than the dedicated gateway. This means that the browser application should initiate a linking application, e.g., a gateway application, in order to establish a session to the other gateway. The user must today confirm this request to initiate the session to the other server, and provide the browser with input of the location of the other gateway. Now, the phone can first establish a connection to the dedicated gateway, which in turn will cause the gateway to send a pull/push to the other gateway for the requested homepage, comprising the user's flight points. However, this means that the user must be provided with many different linking applications, e.g., one for each gateway, which accordingly takes up valuable memory space in the already limited space in a cellular phone.
Also, when browsing to an address on a network server, which is situated elsewhere than the dedicated gateway, the user should confirm this entry and register this on his/her radio terminal every time a session is going to be established to the other server. This confirmation/registration procedure is intended to be some kind of alert to the user when he/she is switching from one gateway to another, but this will cause a delay in the response and requires that the user confirms this as well. Therefore, there is a need to make a faster and simplified connection to the WAP server which provides the requested information to the user.
The present invention provides a faster response to a user of a cellular telecommunication terminal supporting browsing facilities, like a cellular phone, which allow the user to be free from or at least minimize interaction, when accessing servers that is accessed through other links than the dedicated links.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cellular communication terminal for accessing servers (320–360), the terminal comprising                a receiver and a transmitter (19) arranged to receive and transmit data packets from at least one server (320,340) through a link (360) arranged to forward the data packets between the terminal (1,300) and the server (320,340);        a first memory (16,17b) comprising an identifier and at least one item, the item is provided with an access point which indicates the location of the server (320,340) to be accessed, wherein the server (320,340) is accessed by sending the identifier to the link (360) to identify the content to be accessed at the server (320,340);        a browser application, arranged to establish a session to at least a first link (360) by reading an item from the first memory (16,17b), and        a user interface (2,3,4,5,6) connected to the browser application having display (3) for displaying content received from the server (320,340) and user input (2,4,5) to control the browser application,characterised in that the browser application is arranged dynamically, such that if the access point indicates a location to a second link (330) giving access to the server (340), the browser application will automatically activate the transmitter (19) to send a request to the first link (360) to access the server (340) through second link (330), in order to allow the user to be free from interaction when accessing other servers that is accessed through other links than the first link.        
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for accessing servers through a cellular communication terminal (1,300), the communication terminal comprising a first memory (16,17b) and a browser application, wherein the method comprises the following steps:                reading an item (510) in the first memory (16,17b) and an identifier, by means of the browser application, the item comprising at least one access point indicating the location of a server (320,340) to be accessed;        generating a request (520) by means of the browser application, the request comprising information of the requested access point, and the identifier identifies the content of the requested access point,        initiating a session to a first link (360), by forwarding the request from the communication terminal (1,300) to the first link (360), the link sending data packets between the terminal (1,300) and the server (320,340),        identifying the request (550) at the first link (360), and        establishing a session between the terminal (1,300) and the first link (360) by sending a response from the first link to the terminal,characterised in that the browser application is dynamic, such that if the access point is indicating a location to a second link (330) giving access to the server (340), the browser application is automatically activating a transmitter (19) by sending a request to the first link (360), forwarding the request to the second link (330) and providing access (580) to the server (340), in order to allow the user to be free from interaction when accessing other servers that is accessed through other links than the first link.        
According to a still further aspect of the invention, there is provided a system (301) for accessing servers (320–360), the system (301) comprising                a cellular communication terminal (1,300) including:                    a receiver and a transmitter (19) which receives and transmits data packets from at least one server (320,340) through link (360) arranged to forward the data packets between the terminal (1,300) and the server (320,340);            a first memory (16,17b) comprising an identifier and at least one item, the item is provided with an access point which indicates the location of the server (320,340) to be accessed, wherein the server (320,340) is accessed by sending the access point and the identifier to the link (360) to identify the content to be accessed;            a browser application, which establishes a session to at least a first link (360) by reading an item from the first memory (16,17b), and            a user interface (2,3,4,5,6) connected to the browser application, having display (3) for displaying content and user input (2,4,6) to control the browser application,                        a cellular communication network (310), which establishes a connection (305) between the cellular communication terminal (1,300) and link (360),        at least one first link (360), which enables a session for the cellular communication terminal (1,300) and to forward data packets between the terminal and a server (320,340), and        at least one server (320,340), which receives and/or transmits data packets from/to the terminal (1,300),characterised in that the browser application is arranged dynamically, such that if the access point indicates a location to second link (330) giving access to the server (340), the browser application will automatically activate the transmitter (19) to send a request to the first link (360) to access the server (340) through second link (330), in order to allow the user to be free from interaction when accessing other servers that is accessed through other links than the first link.        
According to a yet further aspect of the invention, there is provided a communication device for accessing a server accessible via a proxy, the device comprising a transceiver, the transceiver being operable to establish a session with a proxy, the proxy allowing access to the server such that where a further proxy provides access to the server, a connection is first formed between the proxies.
The further proxy may allow access to a secure server whose address is returned by a server accessed from the proxy with which the transceiver has established a session. By allowing access to the secure server through the connection between the proxies, the user is relieved from the requirement to establish a new session to access the secure server. This has particular advantage where a user initially wishes to access the general content of an on-line bank for example and then wishes to obtain confidential information relating to their account.
A particular advantageous embodiment, is to provide the terminal with a script, which will provide provisions for accessing servers through links. This means that it can be possible to save valuable memory space in the terminal, since the terminal does not have to be provided with the different provisions which is required to access different links, like a gateway or a proxy. A provision can be a linking application, which a certain gateway requires to establish a session. Then the browser can, by means of the script, pull a linking application from a gateway, and activate the linking application, after the application is pushed to the terminal. The pull and push process in this case could be a downloading process activated by the terminal. Thus, the application would be much more flexible and could easily be redefined, without the user having to be worried about changes or updates in the application that is the user will be free from interaction when accessing other servers that is accessed through other links than the first link. Advantageously, the user is able to navigate rapidly among different links, which makes it possible for the user to choose between more or less fast servers.